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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22891042">When She Was In Carbonite</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saradi/pseuds/Saradi'>Saradi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Here for Dadron, Mild Language, dad!Theron</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:21:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,933</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22891042</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saradi/pseuds/Saradi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Jedi Knight | Hero of Tython/Theron Shan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Arcann didn’t see it coming. </p><p>I’m not Force-Sensitive myself but I know my way around those that are.   He was playing sabacc in the base cantina on Odessan with Lana and Gault, so was relaxed and a little distracted by his focus on exactly how the guy was cheating and Lana’s mental games.  That let me fly under his radar as I pretty much jumped across the room.</p><p>Arcann didn’t see me as I dragged him out of his chair and decked him with a sharp right to the jaw.  It knocked him to the floor.  I was able to get one solid kick to his ribs in before he Force shielded and my kicks were hitting that, not him.  That pissed me off even more.</p><p> Lana and Gault both paused a fraction of a moment in shock before knocking the game aside and standing back from the table. They wanted to be in the clear in case I had completely lost my mind (which in all fairness to them wouldn't be difficult to prove) and they needed to take action.  The Havoc squad guys hadn’t moved, just sat watching in amusement in casual stances, sipping whiskey, their card game forgotten in favor of this new entertainment.</p><p>“You fucking son of a BITCH,” I yelled at him.    I felt my jacket being grasped tightly by the collar as I was dragged backwards, away from Arcann as he was standing up.</p><p>“That would be me,” Senya, Arcann’s mother and Force wielding ex-Knight of the Eternal Empire said. She had been sitting with friends across the room and must have done the same kind of leap I did to get here this fast.  “Get a grip, Theron!  What the hell is wrong with you?”  She said, shaking me like a puppy.</p><p>“I would fucking KILL you, if you would unshield!”  I yelled at the man, twisting to get out of Senya’s iron grip.</p><p>“Probably why I’m not letting my shield down,” Arcann muttered, gently rubbing his jaw.   If I wasn’t so blisteringly angry, it would occur to me that this guy could kill <em>me</em> almost as fast as the Hero of Tython could. For that matter, Senya could make pretty quick work of me if she wanted. It wasn't quite making it into my head that he had only taken a defensive action to protect himself and not to hurt me.  If I was thinking clearly, I might appreciate their restraint.</p><p>“Theron!”  Lana yelled.  Quiet, reasonable Lana.</p><p>“Theron, it’s alright.”  Came a quiet voice from behind us.  Cait stepped forward and took me by the hand.   “It’s alright.”  </p><p>“It’s NOT alright!”  I yelled. I pulled my hand from hers and moved toward Arcann again.  “Did you know she was pregnant?  You fucking asshole, you locked her in carbonite and she was PREGNANT!” </p><p>The room was dead quiet in the shocked stillness that followed the announcement I had yelled at the top of my voice.</p><p>“Command Staff, my office.  NOW.”  Cait said, in an uncharacteristically sharp tone.  She was ordering all of us in a voice that even I could feel was Force enhanced.  She never did that.  Not to us anyway.   She turned on her heel and walked to the elevator, not waiting for the rest of us.</p><p>Crap.  Now I’ve done it. This is probably going to get complicated.</p><p>Heh...Maybe I should start at the beginning.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>"...maybe I should start at the beginning..."</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cait asked me if I had a moment.  She had something she wanted to talk to me about.   I have many moments available for her.  Actually, there isn’t another place I’d rather be.  We had only recently rekindled our…whatever it is…romance?  It seems bigger than that somehow.   I feel like I want to spend every second with her and not do anything else.</p><p>Of course, that’s not very practical.  Work done in ways that aid her and the Alliance was a poor substitute, but was what I did instead. We had spent every night together since the day I landed on Odessan.  I think I have quarters here, but I have never seen them.  I don't care.  I'm nuts about her, and by all indications, she feels the same way about me. Plus, her bed is bigger and she's very much into the soft, clean sheets thing.  It's nice.</p><p>She met me in one of the private cubbies in the base cantina.  As we sat down, three guys from Havoc Squad casually sat at the table down the stairs at the entrance to the room, so anyone that wanted to interrupt would have to go through them first.   So this was serious.    Uh..am I in trouble?  I quickly went through the last couple of days to see if there was any time I could pinpoint having blown it.  Before I finished my inventory, she started.</p><p>“I’ll get right to the point,” she said.   She looked nervous, which was uncharacteristic for her.  Nervousness in a Jedi was rare – they have so many calming rituals they do that regular people usually never see it. Most other Force users do this too - except Sith. They basically don't care, so they aren't nervous. </p><p>“There’s really no other way to do this except tell you.   We have a child.”   She looked down at her cup of tea.  </p><p>My heart sank.  We’d just moved our..whatever it was..on to the next step, and now she’s asking for my help to find her Ex. I really didn't want to think about him, but he had been a part of her life before we'd met. And now, there's a child. If I love her, and I'm pretty certain I do, I definitely love her children. It doesn't matter if they aren't mine.   If I had to go to the ends of the galaxy to find Doc Kimble, this child’s father, so be it, I would.   Hopefully this wouldn't change things between us, but we'll see. This was about more than me.</p><p>“I’ll do whatever I can to help you find Doc,” I said before she had a chance to ask me. I was pretty sure this was why she was uncomfortable.  “You know we’ve been looking for your old crew, but he’s off the grid somehow.” That is, if he wasn't dead. Of course I didn't say that part to her.</p><p>She looked up at me, confused.  Then an expression of understanding dawned on her face.</p><p>“Oh.  No.  I mean we,” she moved her hand in a back and forth motion indicating the two of us.  “We have a child.”</p><p>Ok, now it was my turned to be confused. </p><p>“Wait…what?”  I asked.   My brain stopped working.  Math piled up in my head like a vehicle crash on Nar Shaadaa.    </p><p>We’d been together on Yavin 4 - a wonderful romantic interlude. I hadn’t heard anything from her since then till we reunited here on Odessan about a week ago.  To be fair, most of that time she was imprisoned and immobilized in carbonite on Zakuul, it isn't like she just didn't call. That was five long, miserable, uncertain years. We had only found out where she was and that she might still be alive recently. </p><p>But that means there is a five-ish year old child out there that I knew nothing about? Who I could have helped, and taken care of...and loved...while she was gone?  I was way past stunned.</p><p>I put my hands out in a placating gesture.  “Please don’t misunderstand me.  This child isnt Doc's"?  </p><p>She looked back down at her tea, and blushed.</p><p>“Doc and I…we never…”  she began.  “You remember that time on Yavin 4?”</p><p>Did I remember it?  It has been in my dreams since then as the most perfect experience I’ve ever had, well, until recently.  I actually had a long dry spell between that moment with her and when we got back together. I didn't even think anyone was interesting enough for a second look. Not like I was a man-whore to begin with, but no one even caught my attention since then. But I just nodded.</p><p>“That was the first time I’ve ever..um.. been with anyone.  Actually, until recently, the only time.”  She blushed again, as though that were an embarrassing thing to admit.</p><p>Wait…. She’d never…oh Theron you idiot...  I’d just supposed that she and Doc…</p><p>“But you and Doc..?  I thought you had a …thing?”</p><p>She gave a small grin. “Not because he didn’t want to, or never tried.  I just never felt that way about him.  He’s really a wonderful person, an excellent doctor, but he’s got some issues.  It was better to just be friends.  Besides, back then I believed that Jedi don’t do that kind of thing.”</p><p>And I had changed her mind.   I was all kinds of completely out of my element and unable to think, but I had to.</p><p>“I didn’t know. Stars, I’m such an ass....I would have..but... Why didn’t you say anything?” I was stuttering.</p><p>“Oh Theron no,”  she put her hand over mine.   “It was perfect.  I was going to say something, but I was kind of nervous, and you were so wonderful.  You were gentle and loving and kind of just took control.  It was…it didn’t matter. It was a perfect first time.” She looked back at her cup of tea and blushed some more.</p><p>A perfect first time.  Not bad, Shan.  But wait...</p><p>" But a child..a baby…why didn’t you find me?  I would have been there for you.  I know communication was difficult, and Lana and I pretty much went underground, but you know how to get the word out.   I would have been right there. Where is he now? Is it even a 'he'? Is it a boy or a girl?”</p><p>Math, usually my second language, also still hadn't quite kicked in.</p><p>“Well that’s the thing.” She said.  Whatever she had to say, she was having trouble coming out with it.   I put on my best patience face to encourage her.</p><p>“When Lana helped me escape from the carbonite in Arcann’s storage, I was throwing up for weeks.  We put it down to carbonite poisoning, because that had made me really sick.   When we got here, Dr. Oggurob did some tests because I am still feeling queasy.  He tells me I should be three months pregnant now.”</p><p>I stared at her and the jumbled math in my head finally formed into a timeline. That meant..holy shit.  That meant….  I felt pure, unadulterated, pharmaceutical quality rage well up till it filled me completely.  I don’t think I have ever felt this way.  Master Zho taught me calming, centering and focusing, but he never ever taught me how to deal with something like this.</p><p>I pushed back my chair and it fell over.   I practically flew across the room to where Arcann was sitting with Lana and Gault playing sabacc and grabbed him out of his chair – a quick right to the jaw and a swift kick to the ribs and he’d force-shielded so I couldn’t hurt him anymore.</p><p>She was pregnant when he put her in carbonite.  Pregnant with MY child.  With OUR baby.  Did he know?  Did he even care?</p><p>I will kill him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>"..Command Staff, my office, NOW"</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cait had been ahead of us in the elevator.  Havoc Squad was keeping me separate from Arcann, as was Senya.   Aric Jorgen had me by the arm in a grip that totally said if I moved away from him, I’d feel it.  My punching hand which had been numb, was starting to sting.   We headed down to the Command Floor and to the conference room we used when we had serious command-level meetings.</p><p>Dr. Oggurob was there, his bulk squeezed into a corner of the room.   He motioned to his assistant, and she handed me a cold pack for my knuckles.  I wasn’t sure how he knew, but I was grateful. </p><p>Cait was pacing in front of the Galaxy map, and turned when we had all settled in.   I had tried once to lunge across the room to get at Arcann but there were too many people between the two of us that stopped me.    I tried centering, I tried calming, I tried for peace.   Nope.  Wasn’t gonna happen.</p><p><br/>“I apologize for dragging you all into this, but it was going to be common knowledge sooner or later.”  Cait began.</p><p><br/>I started to apologize, but she held up a hand to stop me.   “Theron, I am so sorry.  I could have explained this whole thing better, except  I don’t think I understand it myself.”</p><p><br/>“Allow me,” Dr. Oggurob slid forward.  He glanced at Cait to make sure he had her permission before giving any of her personal information out – but I guess that bantha had already left the corral.  She nodded her assent.</p><p><br/> “The Commander came to me complaining that she felt sick.  She hasn’t been vomiting, which is positive, but just didn’t feel well.   We know she had difficulty with the carbonite she was kept in as a prisoner in Zakuul.  It was assumed her lingering illness was those symptoms as the last of it was clearing her system.”</p><p><br/>He cleared his throat.  “I did a very simple blood test and realized the results were odd – so of course did another more complex one.</p><p><br/>Of course.</p><p><br/>“Those results showed that she was approximately 3 months with child, but there is no indication that she is gestating a fetus.”</p><p><br/>“What does that even mean?” I asked.</p><p><br/>“It means she was pregnant when she went into the carbonite, but the child was removed from her before she could have given birth to it. Because she was in stasis when that occured, her body hasn't caught up to that state and it is causing all sorts of physical mayhem."</p><p>She seemed fine.   And we've been pretty close of late physically, if you follow me.  I didn't know she wasn't feeling well.  And I'm a professional observer.</p><p><br/>“The child is male,“ Dr. Oggurob added.  “Based on the tests, you are the father, Agent Shan.  The removal wasn’t spontaneous, as one might suspect given the toxic conditions in which the Commander found herself.   This was deliberate, based on evidence that is probably far too clinical for this lot to understand.”</p><p><br/>I was stunned.  Male.  A son.  </p><p><br/>“But..how?” I started. </p><p><br/>“Vaylin.”  Senya and Arcann said together.</p><p><br/>“Vaylin had to have taken him.”   Arcann said.   “She found out somehow and took the child to finish gestation outside of the Commander’s body. She has that technology. As a matter of fact, it was one of her most favorite.”</p><p><br/>He spoke directly to me, almost apologetically.   “I may have been heartless, but I wasn’t a complete monster.  We did a quick screen on all prisoners before encasing them. We didn’t want her dead, we wanted her incapacitated.   There was no indication that the Commander couldn’t be imprisoned indefinitely.”</p><p>He had a really impressive bruise starting to swell on his jawline, I noticed with satisfaction.  Discussing her five-year imprisonment didn’t really decrease my animosity towards him, either.</p><p>“So, let me get this straight.  You are saying Vaylin has our son somewhere on Zakuul and she’s raising him? He was raised in a test tube?"  I asked in total disbelief.</p><p>Senya nodded.  “I’m pretty sure I know where.”   She looked at Arcann who nodded as well.</p><p>“How old is he now, Dr. Oggurob?”  Cait asked.   I didn’t want to think about <em>any</em> child in the hands of that witch, Vaylin, let alone my own.</p><p><br/>“His age could be anywhere within the five-year timeline of your imprisonment.”  Dr. Oggurob said.   “He was placed in stasis at the same time you were, and would have remained so. We have no way of knowing when he was taken from you during that time. He could be a newborn or he could be four, or any age in between.”</p><p><br/>“So I am standing here and not going after him because…why?”  I asked.    I could feel that I was calming down a little now that a purpose had been placed in front of me.  A problem to solve always helped.   But there was an urgency to move.</p><p><br/>“He will be in the Summer Palace, outside of the capitol city.”  Senya said.  “As you can imagine, it’s heavily guarded by Knights of Zakuul and the Imperial Guard.   We should do a little bit of pre-planning, we will have lots of resistance.  But Arcann and I know how to get where we need to go.”</p><p><br/>Cait nodded.  “Let’s move then.”  </p><p> <br/>The group started to move, heading to their assignments to get us on the way in the shortest time possible.    Cait just stood there, looking at me. </p><p><br/>“Oh, Theron.  I’m so sorry.”  She had tears in her eyes and was trying very hard not to cry.   "I'm sorry, I cry at everything right now."</p><p>I had noticed that, but of course had no idea why...sunsets, puppies, those horrible greeting card holos.. our son being stolen..it made sense now.</p><p><br/>I moved quickly to her and took her in my arms.  “Oh hey..hey.”  I said, stroking her hair.  “You're ok. I've got you.”   </p><p>“I never meant to complicate your life,” she said.  “I didn’t know.”</p><p>She had put her arms around me, too, and was holding me close which seemed to comfort her.  </p><p>I held her tighter.  “Cait.  Complicate my life as much as you want.   I want you in it - whatever that brings." I gently kissed her.   "Anyways, you have to admit, we throw one hell of a gender reveal party.” </p><p>She gave a ghost of a smile, which made me feel a little better, then said,</p><p><br/>“We have to get him away from her.”  </p><p><br/>“We will.  We’ll get him.”   I will bomb the palace into rubble if that’s what it takes.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Theron is rescuing a baby.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Senya, Kaliyo and Arcann ran us through a map of the Summer Palace, pointing out the spots where we could expect the most resistance.  Once we had a plan of attack, we were ready to go.  </p><p>We landed outside the summer palace grounds in the forest.  Senya knew a few underground passages to take us to where we could begin access.</p><p>Cait, Lana and Koth took a group to create a diversion and draw some of the knights away.  Senya and I headed towards the nursery.  There were still drones between us and our objective, but we were able to make fast work of them.</p><p>I was at the coordinates where the nursery should be, according to the info Arcann had given me.  Senya motioned down the hall, but had my back, keeping several Knights busy.  I crept in through the last door soundlessly, rounding the corner in a defensive posture, my blasters out. </p><p>The room was brightly lit.  There was a child’s crib against the wall.  In the center of the floor was a security cube.  Inside the cube were toys and a blanket, and a small person.    A child was sitting up in the middle of the cube holding …was that a holocron?  I’m not sure I’d give an ancient rare item to a baby to chew on but whatever. Was that even sanitary?</p><p>I rounded the corner, alert for this to be a trap.  I looked at the baby.  You know how some little ones are kind of fuzzy and unfocused?  Not this guy.  He was alert.   As soon as he saw me move into the room, his attention was on me.</p><p>He had thick chestnut brown hair that had a pretty stubborn curl to it.  I lived with that hair every day of my life, which was why I kept mine short…and he was looking at me with Cait’s bright blue eyes. This had to be him.  Besides a distinct lack of other babies in the vicinity, he looked just like I did when I was little, according to the holos Master Zho had shown me. Looking at this little guy was like looking in a mirror - a little 2 foot tall mirror. He had a very serious expression on his face as he regarded me padding around the room with my blasters drawn.</p><p>I finally hunkered down outside the barrier.  “Hey, buddy.”  I said.</p><p>“DA!”   He said, with a huge smile that showed two lower teeth just poking out of his gums.  I mean, I know he didn’t know who I was, he’d never seen me before.  But I’m not going to lie.  Thinking that he might be saying Da to me kind of made me feel a little melty.   Ok, let’s pull it together, Shan.  He slammed the holocron repeatedly onto the floor.  </p><p>“Whoa, whoa, pal.   Let’s get you out of there, ok?”    He pulled himself up using a child-sized chair that was inside the boundary.  He toddled over to the edge near where I was, but didn’t touch the barrier.   That meant he knew it would hurt him – which made me want to bash someone’s face in.   But first things first.</p><p>I was able to slice into the controls that held the barrier in just a few minutes.   Based on what we had seen so far, the security in here wasn’t to keep someone out – that should have already  happened with the tons of Knights that were currently engaged with the rest of the team.   It was designed to keep this one in.   It was total overkill for a baby his size.  Maybe.</p><p>The barrier powered down.  He toddled closer to me, but stopped where the barrier would have been if it had been up.   He was sort of walking, but kind of like he was drunk.   I don’t know a lot about early childhood development, but that’s normal, right? He held his arms up, silently asking to be picked up and held.  There was that melty feeling again.</p><p>Before I picked him up, I took off my jacket.  It was lightly armored with anti-blaster material.  When I  picked him up, I wrapped him in it.   There shouldn't be anything between  us and the shuttle, but just in case, this would keep him safer.</p><p>So far the hall was deserted, but knowing Vaylin that wasn’t going to last long.   I would rendezvous with Havoc Squad, who was heading my way and punching a hole in the defenses.  As if my mind had been read, the room's holoterminal flashed to life.<br/><br/>"Well,"  a chilling voice purred.  "You must be The Father.  Ooo, he's going to be handsome when he grows up."  The image of a youngish woman in dark robes floated above the pad.</p><p>I rolled my eyes.  "Let's go, buddy."   I thought the boy might be frightened by her, but the frown on his little face was pure anger and loathing that should have been well beyond his age.  Although I was glad it wasn't fear, I also hated the thought that anyone had dealt with my son in such a way as to get him this angry.</p><p>"Stay out of my way, Vaylin."  I said</p><p>"Or you'll....what?"   She answered, with what passed for humor in her voice.   "I won't let you take him.  He's mine.  You wouldn't know what to do with someone who has as much talent as this one does."</p><p>"That's the difference between you and me, lady."  I said.  "I don't intend to use him - I'm just going to be his dad.  End fucking transmission."  </p><p>The holoterminal blinked off, something I hoped really ticked the witch off.</p><p>“Oops, sorry buddy.  Language." </p><p>"Oops."  He repeated.</p><p>Commander, I have him.”  I said over the comms.   “ Just had a chat with Vaylin - she's not too happy. Heading to Havoc Squad now.”</p><p>“No worries.” Cait said.  “She's been avoiding me.  I'll be happy to have a word with her if she tries to stop you.  Is he alright?"   He could sense the curiosity in her voice.  There wasn't time for details, but he could understand it.</p><p>"Yep.  Pleased to say a holo encounter with Vaylin just made him mad - not scared. Clearly your child." I hoped she could hear my smile.</p><p>We rounded the corner and came face to face with a lot of the larger battledroids – at least ten teams of 3 – between us and the end of the corridor.  Well, crap. Senya was near the middle trapped between the waves of droids.   She was methodically hacking her way through them, though.   There were just a lot of them.</p><p>The boy looked at me, then at them.  “Uh oh!”  he said.</p><p>“You got that right, buddy.”  I answered.    They hadn’t noticed us yet, hopefully we could duck down the service hall.  I took one step, and it activated them.  </p><p>I started shooting.   “We have hostiles – droid teams – coming right for us.”  I said over the comms. Luckily, these droids didn't have very good aim. I was able to get several solid hits into the first couple of lines of machines heading toward us.</p><p>“Havoc Squad heading that way.”  Jorgen said.  I scanned but didn’t yet see them in my area.</p><p>I was running out of options.   I backed down the hall the way I came, but the droids were piling up. Like I'd noticed before, they had really poor aim. Shots were whizzing over my head an all around,  but that didn't mean they couldn't hurt us if they caught us. The service hall was blocked now.</p><p>I looked at the boy, and he waved his hands making blaster noises, I think. He was wiggling his arms out of the confinement of my jacket.</p><p>He twisted around to see the droids.  I was shooting one blaster like crazy, the other arm was holding him.</p><p>He said something in baby language that my translator didn’t pick up, sounded like “ba ba”, but I’m not sure. He was talking to me, though.   </p><p>Then he said "no!" He put one chubby hand in front of us and one on my chest, like he was telling me 'stand back'.   I could SEE a force wave roll down the hall.  The droids were bowled out of the way and reduced to arcing parts. </p><p>He looked at me. “Oops.”  He said, his eyes wide. I stifled a chuckle. …‘Oops’...   He had the Shan sarcasm.  I think that’s good.  It could backfire on me though, over time.  We’ll see.</p><p>The force wave had completely avoided Senya, still standing in the middle of the corridor.</p><p>“Not bad, for a baby.”  She said over comms.</p><p>“Yeah, Good work, buddy. Glad you could shield quickly enough, Senya."</p><p>"Oh, I didn't.  He was shielding me."   She said. "He was shielding you, too. You didn't notice?" I hadn't. My assessment that they needed some aim calibration was way off. They were firing just fine, he was blocking so nothing touched any of us.  </p><p>I adjusted him on my arm and headed down the hall.</p><p>“Thought you said there were droids as far as the eye could see, Shan?”  Jorgen said into my comms.  I could just see them round the corner at the other end of the long hall.</p><p>“Well, yeah, there were, but this little guy took care of them.”</p><p>“So you got yourself a baby Guardian there?” Jorgen asked. "How old would you say he is?"</p><p>“Uh, gosh, I don’t know…2? Ish?  Maybe younger.   I can’t really claim baby expertise.  He pretty much passed the force sensitive test, though. We won't be having any weird, mysterious robed people showing up to see if he has potential.”</p><p>"Unless you count Scourge,"  Lana said over the comms.  "He is fairly weird."</p><p>"I am <em>on </em>this <em>channel.</em>"  Came Darth Scourge's deep voice.</p><p>"Oops,"  said Lana and I together.</p><p>"Oops,"  the baby echoed.  </p><p>Senya met up with us.  "You're a mom, Senya, what do you think?"</p><p>"He's about 16 months old,"  she said.  "Not quite 2."</p><p>My son looked at me again and yawned hugely.  He snuggled up to me, his head under my chin and his little body relaxed.   Was he sleeping?  Just like that?  Oh.  The force use.  Yeah, that was a lot. </p><p>Untrained Jedi were like baby poisonous snakes (but don't tell his mother I said that). They go all out with the Force - 100%, instead of with the amount that would neutralize or heal. They leave themselves no reserve because they don't know they need to. They are trained to let it flow through them so that it's always available, but he was way too young to know that. He adjusted his head tucked under my chin and sighed, and was out. At this rate, I was going to turn into pure marshmallow before we got back to Odessan. </p><p>"Theron, what happened?" Cait asked, over the comms.</p><p>“I took a vid of it.  We’ll show it to the grandparents next Life Day.  I call it “Baby’s First Droid Massacre”.  I said.   I didn’t think I could wake him, he was sleeping pretty soundly I still didn’t want to jog down the hall in case. I walked quickly, senses on alert, blaster drawn, until Senya and I met up with Havoc Squad and could relax.</p><p>“Ready to exfiltrate.”  Jorgen said.  “Heading to Alpha Point”</p><p>“We are here now,” Lana said.  It should be clear.</p><p>Havoc Squad surrounded me, protecting the boy.  We moved as quickly as we could to the shuttle.  As we took off, I readjusted the tiny guy to hold him a little more securely.  He was still out. </p><p>Cait sat next to me.  "You know what's sexy?"</p><p>"You?"  I answered, smiling.</p><p>"A man with a blaster in one hand and a baby in the other."  She said, smiling back.   She gently caressed the back of his head.   “He has your hair."</p><p>“Poor guy.”  I said.  “He’s got your eyes, though,exact same shade.”</p><p>“Are you kidding?” She said, smiling.   “But he totally looks like a mini Shan.”</p><p>“He’s going to need a name, I guess.”  I said.  Usually parents have months and months to come up with one.</p><p>“We’ll think of something,”  Cait said, smiling at both of us.   She sat next to me and leaned in, then rested her head on my shoulder, so all three of us were snuggled up together on the crew bench.  My two Jedi. At least, I hoped they were mine. I wanted them to be.</p><p>I…could get used to this.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first thing we did when we returned to the base at Odessan was take the boy to Dr. Oggurob to be checked out.  He seemed in good health.  He woke up just as we were landing.   He looked at me with kind of a confused fuzzy look - I know, buddy, that’s how I look when I wake up, too, that is if I’m not on the job and sleeping with one eye open.   Then he patted my face with his little hand.</p><p>“Baba,” he said.</p><p>“Did he…” I began.  “He said that to me when he was wrecking those droids.  I thought it was just some baby thing.”</p><p>Senya nodded.   “Seems like knows who you are.”</p><p>Well, that was pretty wonderful. </p><p>Cait and I exited the shuttle and headed to the Base hospital.</p><p>“I hope Oggurob doesn’t scare him,” I said.  Dr. Oggurob was a good scientist, an excellent doctor and we were lucky to have him, but he was a Hutt.  He was very large and much different looking than anything the boy had probably seen.</p><p>We rounded the corner and Dr. Oggurob slid toward us.   “Ah, here he is!  The Shan child.”</p><p>The boy looked at him, his eyes huge and his mouth in an ‘o’ shape.  Then he smiled and waved.</p><p>“May I?” Oggurob said, reaching out for him.  I hesitated.  He patted me again and turned and reached out for the transfer to Dr. Oggurob’s arms.  He was ok with it, and let me know.  Is that normal for babies?</p><p>“Remarkable,” was all that the good doctor said.</p><p>Cait and I both stood near while our son was placed into an exam unit, which ran his basic health functions and scanned him for any anomalies.  A blood unit rested on his upper arm and took a quick poke for a blood sample.</p><p>“Outs,” was all he said as he patted his arm after the blood unit was removed.   He was used to being examined, really comfortable in this situation.  I was glad he wasn’t scared, but it really creeped me out at the same time.  What had happened to him?</p><p>One of the medical techs handed a datapad to Oggurob, who paged quickly through it. </p><p>“Your son is in excellent health,” he began.   “He is exactly 15 months, 4 days, 8 hours, 47 minutes and 24 seconds old,, using the Coruscantii calendar.”   Geez.  And I forget my own birthday.   So, not quite 2.   That’s a good baseline, I’ll start researching how to parent a two year old.   I’m glad I hadn’t made any bets with Senya.  She was right when she estimated his age.</p><p>“His physical development is normal, blood work is perfect, brain scan normal. Not to mention he is cute as a button - for a human. Have you seen evidence of Force sensitivity?  He’s still fairly young for it.”</p><p>“Yeah,” I said.  “Let me show you this vid”.  I went over to his holo and popped the vid of the droid attack. </p><p>“Goodness gracious,” Dr. Oggurob said.  “I’d say he passed that test.”</p><p>“Theron, would you send a copy of that to Senya, Lana and Scourge?  I’d like them to see it.”</p><p><br/>“Done.”  I said.</p><p>“That’s incredible.”  Cait said. </p><p>“It makes sense, though.”  Dr. Oggurob began.   “He has a legacy of Force users on both sides of his genetic makeup.”</p><p>“He’s going to be what he wants to be,” Cait said.  “If he’s the only Jedi Veterinarian in the galaxy, that is fine with me.”</p><p>“I would like to keep him for a few hours just to run some cognitive tests.  I suspect he was on his own a lot and hasn’t had socialization opportunities.  That will help me with a plan for him going forward.”</p><p>My comm unit beeped.  I don’t so much hear it as know that’s what it does.  “Shan,” I said.   </p><p>“San,” the boy said.</p><p>“Theron, I am looking for the Commander,” Lana said.  “Is she still with you?  Would you send her to the War room?”</p><p>“I don’t want to leave him,” Cait began.  “Ask her if it isn’t something that they can deal with there.  I trust her to handle whatever it is.”</p><p>“I’ve got him, Cait.”  I said.  “I’ll stay with him.”</p><p>“Baba,” the boy said.</p><p>She leaned over the bed where he was sitting and gave him a kiss on the forehead.  “Well..ok.  I don’t want to.  Bye sweetie,” she said to him.</p><p>“Bai swee,” he said, opening and closing his hand in a semblance of a wave.  You could tell she was touched by what he said – even if he might not know what he was saying.</p><p>“Call me if ANYTHING comes up,” She said.</p><p>“You got it.”  I gave her a kiss and she walked out of the room, turning at the door to look back at us.</p><p>“So the net/net of the tests was that he’s not verbal enough,” I said later to the command staff in the War Room.   We had set up a makeshift play area – more about that later – in the corner where he could be near everybody but not underfoot.  More about that, later, too.</p><p>Gault had added several stuffed toys to the mix from Hylo's seemingly endless stash of items,  saying “We don’t want him to fuss.”  But you could see that melty look in his eye, too.   The boy was currently throwing them out of the play area and Force pulling them back in, completely happy and involved with what he was doing.</p><p>“But he’s been communicating with us a lot,” Lana said. </p><p>“Dr. O said he was very expressive, and probably used the Force behind some ideas he was trying to get across, but that he didn’t have much of a vocabulary.”  I said.  “He should be saying intelligible words ... normal development is 5 – 10 words at his age.”</p><p>“Would be nice if there was an implant for that,” Kaliyo chimed in from where she was breaking down an Isotope 5 weapon to see how it was put together.   We might want to re-evaluate tasks like that in the War Room if there was going to be a baby there.</p><p>“Yeah, it would. But a language/translation implant supposes that you have a base language to translate from.   He’s communicative, he wants to get things across to us, but just doesn’t have the words.  Everything he’s said to me, he’s heard me say before…except ‘uh oh’, but that’s probably universal.   We are going to have to teach him the old fashioned way.”</p><p>“Uh oh,” The boy chimed in from the corner.   The group smiled.</p><p>“Oggurob said that we need to engage him as often as possible – which is why he recommended that he be here on the command floor with the Commander and me, as his parents, but all of you as opportunities to learn.   He said he needed to know more before he would recommend putting him in a learning or school situation with other children his age.”</p><p>“He’s way too young for any Academy,” Lana said.  “Does he have a name yet?”</p><p>“We’ve discussed it, and are naming him after both our fathers.  Alexandros Zho.” Cait said. </p><p>“But isn’t…” Lana began.  I knew she was going to say something about Jace Malcom being my father.</p><p>“Yeah, he is.”  I said, “But Ngani Zho brought me up.  He’s more my father than whatsisname ever was.”</p><p>Cait gave me a sympathetic look.</p><p>“We think we’ll call him ‘Alex’, but ‘Buddy’ has also kind of stuck to him, since that’s what Theron and the rest of you have been calling him - without a formal name.   We are in discussion if he should be Solis-Shan or not.”  Cait said and smiled.  “We’ll see who wins that one, but he’s obviously a Shan, for certain.”</p><p>“San,” Alex added from his corner.</p><p>“So if you would just toss a word or two to him throughout the day, but mostly just “Be” with him for the next week or two, Oggurob said he’d re-evaluate after he’s been with us awhile.  You know, interact when you have a spare minute.”  I ended my ‘meeting’.</p><p>A week or so later, I was going through some reports with Arcann.  We had a truce since my blowup.  We’d talked it out.  The guy really had changed and was trying to be a part of this, and to atone for what he saw as a misused life.  I could respect that.   Plus, he was tactically pretty brilliant.   Granted, he’d had the huge advantage of the Eternal Fleet at his disposal, but you still have to know what to do with them once you get them to wherever you are going.</p><p>Alex was singing a song with words that sounded like he’d just made it up.  Suddenly, Arcann turned his head and looked at him, a quizzical look on his face. </p><p>“One minute, Agent Shan.”  He said.  He walked over to the play enclosure and kneeled down next to Alex.   He started to sing to the boy, and it was the tune that Alex had been singing.   Arcann made gestures that seemed to go with the song, and Alex smiled in delight – making similar but less coordinated gestures as they sang together.</p><p>Senya came over.  “It’s a child’s song about a small arachnid that is trying to climb up a hydrator.   The hydrator opens and the arachnid is washed back to the beginning and has to climb up from the bottom again.”  She told Theron.</p><p>Arcann and Alex were telling the story with their hands while they sang the words.   They got to the end and both started laughing.   Arcann said something to the boy in a language that it took a moment for Theron’s translator to pick up.   Alex started chattering to him. </p><p>Arcann reached in and picked him up, bringing him back to the table where they’d been working. </p><p>“He’s not nonverbal,” Arcann said.   “He just doesn’t understand Basic.  He does know Zakuulan, however.  Sort of.  Like most kids his age, you can’t always tell exactly what he’s saying.”</p><p>“Commander, will you come to the War Room?”  I asked over my comms. </p><p>“On my way,” she said.</p><p>“I don’t think he’s said enough for a translator to pick up,” Arcann said.   “But now that you mention it, ‘Baba’ is how we say Papa, when we are small.”   For a second a look of pain flashed through his eyes. </p><p>“Baba,” Alex said pointing at Theron.</p><p>“You got that right, Buddy.”  I said, taking him from Arcann and sitting him on my lap. </p><p>The elevator arrived with Cait and Lana on it.  They were deep in discussion.  She looked at me, and the rest of the expectant group.</p><p>Alex said something, pointing at Cait but looking at Arcann.</p><p>Arcann answered in Zakuulan “She is your Mama.” </p><p>"Mama,"  Alex said, nodding.</p><p>Cait stood rooted to the floor, a goofy smile on her face.  “This is..I don’t even know how to describe it.”</p><p>“I totally get it,”  I said.   “I’ll let Dr. Oggurob know the good news – so this means we just need to all use our words around him.”</p><p>Cait glared at Kaliyo and Gault. “Not ALL your words.”  She said.</p><p>“Yeah yeah, I get it,” Kaliyo said, smiling.</p>
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